Neon Genesis Evangelion - Perfect Collection

Put simply this is the story of three fourteen year old children - Shinji Ikari, Rei Ayanami, and Asuka Langley - who have been bred to be able to merge with giant bioengineered creatures called Evangelions, EVA's for short. Their task is to protect a post apocalypse world from the invasions of giant angels. These are creatures much like the EVA's, whose agenda is not completely clear. Of course, the truth is that this is perhaps 30% of the story, which is a combination of psychodrama, metaphysical mystery play, and an investigation into the potential of the human race. In fact, nothing is ever exactly what it seems.

As an example of the many layers to the story, there is a tremendous amount of Judeo-Christian symbolism worked into the story. The Sephiroth, the Kabalah's tree of life, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Lance of Longinus, and cruciform images abound. All of this adds up to an impending sense of apocalypse, but the truth us far stranger. Hideaki Anno has intentionally used this symbolism to create an atmosphere that is 'mysterious' to his Japanese audiences. Yet there is a whole other spiritual layer that is uniquely Japanese, drawing deeply from the Kojiki, an ancient creation legend. This is something many non-Japanese viewers will miss.

This is one of many cases of the subtle undercurrents that make this series far more than an action oriented mecha story. Characters are complex, and develop rather than stay single sided. Anno's artistic control creates a visual layering that is just as right as the ploy. Careful attention to details will reward the viewer with all manner of hints and indicators of what is to come and what is happening. All production values are excellent and Anno shows he is willing to take real creative risks in his efforts to communicate.

Of course, if you are considering buying the series, this collection really is the only sensible way to buy it. Despite the alarming price ticket, it is still much better priced than the one at a time charge. Whether you buy, rent, or borrow, this is one of the anime series that must be seen. You will not be disappointed.


Simply breathtaking...   July 22, 2002
A. Steinhebel (Tacoma, WA United States)
107 out of 116 found this review helpful

For the record, I am not a huge fan of Anime. Maybe I am looking in the wrong places, but everytime I start to watch a series it ends up as mindless action or mindless comedy. I've only seen 2 that can truly be called intellectual. Serial Experiment: Lain was one. Neon Genesis Evangelion is the other.
I cannot say enough good about this series. It it quite simply the best piece of work to ever have been broadcast. Anywhere. Nothing to come out of America, nothing to come out of Japan, nothing anywhere can meet the sheer brilliance of the 26 episodes of this most disturbing, heartwarming, and beautiful anime.
Evangelion starts out simply enough. Ikari Shinji is a 14-year old boy who gets called upon to pilot a giant mecha, called an Evangelion. He, Rei, and Asuka are the three children that have the ability to pilot these machines. Simple enough, right? The first 3/4's of the series deals with the relationship between these 3 and the various leaders of NERV, the organization they work with. It is highly entertaining, beautifully drawn, and very engaging. Alot of the middle episodes are very light hearted, and nothing too fantastic, but enjoyable in their own right.
It is in the last quater of the series that it becomes brilliant. Shinji, Asuka, Rei, and Misato (one of the leaders of NERV) become very introspective. By this point their back stories and personalities are developed beyond any rational expectation. I don't want to spoil the moving experience of this anime, but let me just say that it is incredibly philosophical, psychological, and depressing.
Oh, and for the love of all that is holy, DO NOT listen to anyone who tells you not to watch the last 2 episodes. They are, simply put, fools. The last 2 episodes are jarring, disturbing and very hard to watch. They do not give perfect closer to the whole series (don't worry Plot [enthusiasts], End of Evangelion, due out in September ties up all the loose ends). But they made the series for me. You have to see it to believe it and I am not going to spoil it by saying anything more. Just trust that it is simply breathtaking...


Started out great... then it blew my mind   April 11, 2002
D. K. Malone (earth)
26 out of 31 found this review helpful

...I started watching EVA sometime in 1997. I had seen a few of the tapes on the shelf at Suncoast, I think there were four or five volumes available when I first noticed them. I knew nothing about about the show, I suppose I thought the title was interesting. But not so interesting that I was just going to buy it cold. It was around this time that I asked someone who was more hardcore about anime than I was if there was anything new I should check out. He told me to watch Neon Genesis Evangelion. That was how I came to start watching it. There was no hype, no controversy at the time. I'm thankful for this, I think these things tend to have a very negative effect on people who get into a series later, when it's weighed down with so much baggage.

I enjoyed the first few volumes a lot. It seemed to have it all: action, drama, comedy, great art direction, excellent script, and overall high production value. But somewhere after the middle, the series took a HARD left turn into some majorly complex psychological and philosophical territory. It really threw me for a loop, at first. But I knew that this was easily the richest, heaviest anime I'd ever seen. My respect for the series increased ten fold. Then I saw the last two episodes, and I just didn't know what to think. The ending was pretty disappointing, that's all I can say. And I'm a little suspect of anyone who claims that they weren't disappointed in the ending. Then, well over a year after finishing the series, I was finally able to get my hands on a fansub copy of the theatrical movie "End of Evangelion," which is more or less an alternate to the original TV series ending. To this day I still consider EoE to be the one greatest work of anime that I've ever seen. Furthermore, it made the TV series ending easier to take, and I was able to appreciate it more that I had originally.

All I really want to say is please, PLEASE disregard anyone who tells you that it starts out good and then "just gets weird" or "loses focus" etc. These are very shallow and dismissive views. I know fawning, closed minded fanboys are annoying, but I think it's a fact that there is a LOT going on this series, it's up to the viewer to appreciate it if they can. It's worth your time.


Masterpiece of Anti-Anime   March 12, 2004
Issei Takechi (Saitama, Japan)
22 out of 27 found this review helpful

I missed the entire TV broadcast of this series and the debate that ensued mainly because I was in the United States during that time period. When I came back to Japan in the spring of 1999, Neon Genesis Evangelion was already a thing of the past, and everyone was talking about the Princess Mononoke by Miyazaki Hayao.
I have just recently seen the entire series and the two theater versions and now wish that I had seen them all much earlier. As is often pinted out, this series is rather wretched largely due to the puzzling last two episodes, and I frankly do not care so much for all the psuedo-Christian icons that the work carries with it. What is of greater importance is that this series seems to delve into the ever-pervasive sense of insecurity and nihilism lurking underneath the subconsious of modern man. I also belive that this only could have come out in the aftermath of the mayhem caused by the Kobe Great Earthquake and the Tokyo subway gas attack perpetrated by the Aum Doomsday Cult.
One thing that striks me is the lifelessness of the futuristic Tokyo, the home of NERV. It is a fortress replete with all the defence mechanism. An evacuation order is issued everytime an Angel comes to attack the city, but not a soul is seen to be running on the street or anything. And then it is this series of Angels that puzzle the viewers. We are never told where they are actually coming from; they just show up out of nowhere only to be annihilated by the Evas and NERV. It is not until after the twentieth episode or so that we learn that those Angels are actually the externalized forms of the fear and insecurity that the NERV personnel carry deep inside themselves as the traumatic past that each one of them has becomes gradually apparent.
And of course the series abounds in various feminine symbols, the Evas themselves being female figures with the umbilical cable and whatnot. It is in this context that Rei Ayanami plays a pivotal role as she shows up in numerous guises: as a mother before Shinji; as an direct antithesis before Asuka; as a wife-daughter figure before Gendo Ikari; and as an archrival before Ritsuko and her mother.
All in all, this is an anime that ends all other animes as there is so much in it that goes against the traditional notion of what the anime should be like. Although I am relatively a newcomer to this series, I must admit that watching the whole series was a deeply moving experience. And I urge you all to see it as Neon Genesis Evangelion has definitely something important to tell us.